Most Active Energy Stocks (MRO, SU, XCO)

Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE:MRO) slid 0.24% to $33.23 after the company said this month that it earned $1 a share in its third-quarter on an adjusted basis, ahead of analysts’ estimates of 94 cents a share.

Marathon now expects production growth of 5% in 2011 and 2012, up from 4% in the current year.

The stock opened at $33.33 and went up more than 6% year-to-date.

Suncor Energy Inc. (USA) (NYSE:SU) fell 0.21% to $32.83. The company said this month that its quarterly earnings jumped to C$1.02 billion (US$1.01 billion), or 65 Canadian cents a share, from C$929 million, or 69 Canadian cents a share, in the same quarter last year. Suncor’s operating earnings were 42 Canadian cents a share.

Analysts polled by FactSet Research expected the company’s operating earnings to be 39 cents a share. Suncor also got a boost from advancing crude oil futures, which rose 1.9% to trade at $86.33 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The stock opened at $32.92 and traded within the range of $32.70-$33.60. The stock went down more than 7% year-to-date.

EXCO Resources, Inc. (NYSE:XCO) added 0.49% to $18.44. This month, the chief executive of Exco Resources Inc. has offered to take the natural-gas and oil producer private for $20.50 a share, representing a buyout premium of 38%, the company said Monday. Exco said it plans to form a special committee of independent directors to consider the proposal.

The $20.50-a-share offer represents a “very compelling” deal “in the best interest of the company and its public shareholders,” Miller said.